After Fleeing From the Fire in Paradise, a Family Chooses To Rebuild Their Lives In Humboldt County

The family of eight (five humans and three dogs) came to Eureka to find a new home. [Photo taken Nov. 21st, provided by the Goupil family]

A young family who lost their home and all of their possessions decided to relocate to the Eureka area after the destructive Camp Fire raced through their town east of Chico. As the Goupil family of Paradise begins to rebuild their lives, they face new challenges in Humboldt County.

Danny Goupil and his wife Janell say they are just thankful to be alive and together with their three kids and three dogs. Almost three weeks after the start of the deadliest fire in California is history, thousands of Paradise families are still finding themselves without resources or housing.

Danny and Janell say they had always thought about moving to the coast from Butte County, and after having their honeymoon in Trinidad, the couple had a soft spot for Humboldt County. The family of eight (five humans and three dogs) came to Eureka after making a plan to relocate.

The morning of November 8th began almost like any other, with the exception of a warning about fire danger in the area. PG&E had been periodically warning resident about possible power shut-offs due to concerns of ‘fire danger’ in the area. The power remained on and Jannel went out the door as usual to manage the family restaurant in Magalia, Jaki’s Hilltop Cafe. Luckily, the two big brothers Bradlee and Rilee were out of harm’s way in another town, safe from the fire.

It was mid-breakfast when it became obvious that they all needed to get out while they still had a chance. The emergency evacuation was such short notice that they were barely able to escape at all. There was no planned evacuation process. Many people did not even know there was an evacuation order.

As they recounted their story, describing flames enveloping structures surrounding them, smoke “like a volcano” and traffic jams that created deadly kettling of residents in cars attempting to all escape at the same time, the sense of relief in the couple was palpable. The two parents were evacuated separately as the emergency effort to clear the city got underway, with Janelle at the restaurant and her husband Danny at home with the 11-month-old baby and three big dogs.

Baby Rhett is just happy to have his best friends and family by his side. He was carried out of the flames in a laundry basket to safety– one of the youngest survivors of the Camp Fire disaster.[Photo by Ryan Hutson]

Danny Goupil took a quick video from the outside of their home, just before driving away. He explained that all he could do was grab his dogs, his guns, some money, a few things for his boys. Then he quickly put the baby in a laundry basket with some clothes and loaded into the truck as fast as he could.

Raw video of Paradise before evacuation taken by Dan Goupil on November 8th, next door to the Paradise High School, at 8:15 in the morning as he prepared to evacuate.

As his elderly mother got separated in the caravan behind Dan, she called him in a panic. His mother described being stuck in traffic attempting to all flee the encroaching fire, she screamed to him about the flames, the unbearable heat and the terror of seeing neighbors running from the flames, and people caught on fire running around her vehicle.

Danny told his mom to punch it, and that she couldn’t help those people who were on fire.

Listen to Danny recount the details of their escape, and how they barely made it out.

He explained the terrifying ordeal of attempting to evacuate in a rush, while guiding his mother out of the now infamous escape route down Skyway Road over the phone, and even detouring to rescue an elderly couple and their cat from burning alive.

Dan Goupil shares his thoughts after getting out alive and explains how he was able to rescue an elderly couple on his way out of the blazing inferno that was Paradise. [Interviews and video provided by Ryan Hutson]

The family of five has been counting their blessings and moving forward regardless of having lost nearly everything but each other in the Camp Fire’s devastation. They were able to regroup together after their separate evacuation experiences, going to Janell’s cousin’s home in a neighboring county, and being gifted clothing by the Goodwill and daily supplies from total strangers, as well as from family not living in Paradise.

Danny and Janell have been keeping focused on moving forward, saying they are very concerned about how this catastrophe will impact the two older boys, now relocating to an entirely new community after being raised in Paradise. They say they are determined to make this a positive step forward, wanting to set an example for the kids, to show that perseverance and hope is a priority in difficult times.

Thousands of former residents of Paradise and surrounding areas are now scattered across the northern part of the state and even farther attempting to find housing. Thousands of people are still stuck looking for temporary housing outside of Butte County due to the lack of available housing options there.

A destroyed mobile home park in Paradise. [Photo by Mark McKenna]

The couple reflected on the idea of going back to Paradise, where almost none of the other businesses survived, and many of their customers from the popular family restaurant surely did not. They wanted to start fresh. After all, having to rebuild and fix the restaurant seemed a daunting task, and one the family had just accomplished after a grease fire gutted the building last year. They had only been re-opened for 30 days when the Camp Fire took everything.

In the hope of finding relief from the trauma of their harrowing escape and building a fresh start on the coast, the family of five set their plans in motion. They decided on Humboldt County. They looked for a rental unit, they applied for jobs, and they enrolled their older boys in school.

Janell Goupil gazing with relief at the hoped for home.

After coordinating with the landlord, the family arrived at the rental, finding a small but completely furnished space that would house them comfortably.

Having already spoken with the owner about the required rent, as well as the family’s current evacuee status, dogs and all, the Goupils said they believed that this was being offered as a solution until they could find a more ideal location for the family. The availability of this rental unit was a main factor in deciding to make the journey up the coast to Eureka.

Upon inspection, Janell approved of the kitchen and proceeded to make the call to finalize the deal. Instead of being welcomed to regroup there, as they supposed would be the case after working out a payment method, they were told by the landlord that the rental deposit would need to be double what was quoted previously.

Janell Goupil speaking to the landlord on the phone, relays a question to her husband, after being asked if the couple had any way of borrowing money from friends or family. Janell politely reminds the landlord that everyone from Paradise is in the same boat. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

Even under these trying circumstances, after much planning and several previous conversations with the landlord over the course of the week, the Goupil family was now being told that dog hair was a concern and that it would only take one crayon for the baby to ruin the walls. As the sun set on them outside the would-be home, the tentative arrangements made to rent the small furnished unit unraveled at the last minute.

Listening to the landlord retract the offer, any sense of relief the exhausted parents had gained that day was instantly gone. Janell took a moment to grieve what felt like another loss, then she and Dan loaded the family back into their Toyota.

Family members Pauli, GeGe, and Amari getting some love from Papa Goupil. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

The next stop was back into Eureka where Janell had arranged to apply for a job opening, not in a restaurant as a manager or server, but in retail, because going back to food industry service seemed too soon. “Just something simple,” to get the bills paid, she explained. As they barely made it before closing time, she was grateful to be welcomed by a sympathetic local business owner, who then assisted in helping make plans to get relief for the dogs on a friendly local ranch where they could romp and play freely.

Danny Goupil was fortunate enough to get hired right away by a local restaurant and has been going to work already, while Janell is looking forward to getting word back from her applications soon. The two boys, ages eight and nine are enrolled in school, scheduled to begin on today, and already looking forward to joining sports teams locally. Baby Rhet, meanwhile, is still enjoying the birthday presents he got just last week, when he had his first birthday surrounded by family at Jannell’s cousin’s house.

Since the morning of November 8th, their family has had to rely on the generosity of others to survive, including total strangers, Goodwill donations and the GoFundMe page that has been a huge blessing. As Dan Goupil explained, every single thing they have now, every item of clothing, was all donated to them by strangers.

A GoFundMe page set up byDan’s sister states, “Danny and Janell Goupil lost everything in the Paradise Fire Nov. 8, 2018. They barely got out with their lives. They have three children and are much loved in the area because of the family business, Jaki’s Hilltop Cafe in Magalia. We can’t help everyone, but perhaps we can help someone like this wonderful family.”

The serious lack of short term or long term housing available in Butte County has forced many people into neighboring counties, seeking out RV parks, campgrounds and motels wherever they are available. Many of the evacuees from the area do not have access to bank cards, cash, or basic identification–all being lost to the fire. The Goupil family was lucky to have escaped with their lives, and are waiting to see what FEMA can offer them.

Dan and Janell Goupil are reachable via their GoFundMe account, and are in need of immediate shelter, financial support, and living supplies for the foreseeable future, while they actively regroup in Humboldt County.

Note: The Goupils’ name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.

I was wondering that too, could that be identified as a form of “price gouging”?
Im appalled someone would let them get all the way to the front door only to ask for more money. Kym i hope you inform the authorities who that landlord is.

They need to be outed. There is a large group of property owners and management companies in Butte that came to an emergency agreement with local governments to keep rent gouging from happening and make it illegal for rents to go up more than 10% for a period of time. But dear Lord I hope this family has a positive Humboldt experience as we all know what complete stains on society and nastiness runs among us.

it is completly illegal to make a verbal agreement like that then recant want to charge double deposit that’s illegal as it is. Not on landlords are like that sounds like they got a dirty landlord and it’s probably a good thing they’re not renting from them being that he was bitching about crayon on a wall. Sorry you had a dirty experience the dirty landlord. Hopefully you get a better one

Smart move in my opinion. Kept those firearms safe and out of the wrong hands should the home not have burned. As we all know, disaster will bring out the worst types trying to capitalize on others misfortune.

In the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, my great grandfather grabbed a bag of potatoes. At least they had food. Had it until my great grandmother opened it only to find it full of empty beer bottles. My great grandfather made his own beer and these were the bottles he used.

Strange things happen in situations like this. By the way, my grandmother her sister & brother and parents, lost everything, except the clothes they were wearing and those beer bottles.

In really hot fires the safes often heat up to the point that ammo will go off and is very dangerous.
Who cares what someone grabs, i know people who grabbed random food items instead of jewelry, when your life us in imminent danger you can go into a bit if shock and make what will later seem like weird decisions. Hope you never have to feel it. Like an out of body experience.

Does that concern you? A gun is a better tool in a disaster, if need be than grandma’s old pearl necklace. And by taking them, they are kept out of the hands of the thieves now roaming the ruins for well…..anything. But hey, let’s drop you into the middle of an inferno and see how you do, Ted.

I wish them the best! They sound like the people we want here…As for the landlord- shame on them! A crayon doesn’t ruin a wall!! It means you must paint over the wall. How dare he blame the children for throwing this family back to the street. Meanwhile my slumlord neighbor is licking his chops. He just lost his long-term grower renters and was considering he may have to lower the rent on his terribly degraded rental or (gasp!) fix it up a bunch. Instead he awaits the refugees from Paradise to beg him for his slumhouse. Humboldt has always had these types of low-life property owners. They prey on others.

What a wrenching story. May they all find what is best for them and be able to recover soon. Sometimes, even though it seems like all one can manage is to keep putting one foot in front of the other in a never ending trudge through misadventure, it leads to wonderful new rewards. I wish the best for you.

They are not the only family to come here. We evacuated and I have meant numerous other families here. I hear there is one family living in a tent at the KOA with 3 small children. Housing is a problem here and over there also.

I wish all evacuated families safe travels and good luck finding replacement housing. Just an FYI for any parent, crayons on the wall is easily cleaned up with a small amount of WD40. No repainting needed!

Dog hair can be cleaned up and so can crayon with little to no effort. There is no wiggle room in Humboldt for housing. Landlords won’t rent to people with animals and want an astronomical amount in rent and deposit as hard as it is for any other Humboldt resident to find and hold housing it will be triple the difficulty for anyone else. Town of scotia should make the MANY MANY empty houses available to fire evacuees for rent until they can get into something more permanent or even they may choose to buy there.

I recommend moving the other direction, to Modoc County, instead of Humboldt!

Modoc is WAY cheaper, WAY friendlier, and, more accommodating to families.

Humboldt is full of tenant-haters, evil, vicious, two-faced and xenophobic landlords!

Humboldt is also pretty full of folks on welfare, refugees, drug-heads and persons with “Fund-me’s”…

Humboldt is a very tough environment for “new” people, and I congratulate you for finding employment so quickly.

It’s going to be a tough road, but there are more welcoming areas of California, if you want to move on.

Gouging is going to be a problem, wherever property sellers and landlords exist, since there are large numbers of displaced persons involved.

Lake County, is another reasonable place to go, and there are numerous properties for sale, with a large amount of employment nearby.

Good luck, and, if you want to sell your guns, which I would advise you to do immediately, take them to Yuba City instead of to the Eureka gun dealers, who just want to steal everything.

Fortuna is better than Eureka, stay away from SoHum, Trinity County is nice, and Weaverville is worth looking at!

Hang in there, and remember, everyone wants to move to the coast, but the coast does not exactly work out for everyone who comes there… It’s expensive, the weather in Humboldt will amaze you in the winter, and it’s tough to find housing! The schools are starving to death, and the employers want to exploit and underpay you. Oregon is just North, and much better for families. Try Brookings, Medford, Grants Pass, Klamath Falls, or even tiny Lakeview, which is growing like crazy due to a new biofuel plant. Cheap housing is abundant in Eastern Oregon, and a population boom seems to be happening.

I’ll chime in here as a landlord with a different POV; one trying to thrive in a legal and regulatory environment that penalizes business owners and favors consumers. California. Not just Humboldt. The comments here are overwhelmingly negative against this landlord and lacks recognition of the legitimate business side of this issue. I have also been a consumer of housing so I have experienced both interests. Obviously, these folks need housing but it will be next to impossible to find it in this area. The family apparently had jobs and suitable space for kids and dogs in Paradise. It is horrible what they have been through, but I don’t agree that the landlord should be villanized for asking for additional security. My experience with folks is that they often submit “lite applications” for tenancy and do not reveal the full extent of their demand on the property. To a degree, that is to be expected, as we all put our best foot forward when trying to get something and especially if we are desperate. The landlord subsequently learned about additional information and re-assessed the application, determining a potential greater risk to the premises. You may think that “crayons on walls” is petty, but I guarantee you, if there are crayons on walls, there’s more damage to be discovered! Damage that someone has to repair! Children and dogs are Very hard on interiors! Their “tenancy application” is nearly as dismal as can be: no ties to the area, no discretionary resources, no employment for wife, minimal employment for husband, no support system, multiple dependent children and 3 large dogs. As much as my heart goes out to these folks from this disaster in Paradise, I would never knowingly submit my property or neighboring properties to a tenancy for this family. Adding to the problem is, once the tenants are in place, it is excruciatingly difficult and expensive to remove them. In this particular tenancy situation, the probability of having to evict is extremely high. The landlord must contract with an eviction service AND suffer the loss of rental income for the statutory eviction waiting period. After that, landlord must expend the time and expense of repairing the premises and finding another tenant. Frankly, I am amazed that this landlord only required an extra deposit and would accept them as tenants under any condition! There is no argument that housing is a basic need, but being a provider of housing is a highly regulated business with basic economic realities. Children and dogs do not present a positive situation for finding rental housing–especially in a market where rental housing is scarce. Can anyone see this sad situation a little differently and acknowledge the needs of BOTH parties?

Gee, I’m a landlord of 30 years experience. When I went to rent out my Humboldt County property, I found NO qualified tenants, at all, and I am only talking about requiring:

No pets.
Documented adequate income from W-2 employment, with 2 years history.
Tax returns for 2 years.
References.
Limits on number of persons occupying domicile.
Credit check.
Background (criminal record) check.

Should have been easy, but nobody was prepared for or fit the qualifications! I gave up, sold the property.

I personally would not rent to a family of 5 with three large dogs, without income, especially not if they went straight to the internet with their complaints!

These folks, should expect to be denied, and with their “Go Fund Me” as their income, I doubt they will succeed in finding housing in Eureka.

When you have a large family, you should start off with income, and buy your own real estate. If you can’t afford it, then you are at the mercy of landlords.

At this time, the best place in Humboldt, for a poorly qualified family, is still:

From MY point of view, the “tenant problem” is pretty much to blame for the situation in Humboldt! Also: Humboldt is suffering from too many people needing relief!

If a family finds itself with nowhere to go, especially in California, poor planning is also partly to blame.

Even if I was burned out, I own other property where I could go.

In California, it’s fires, floods, earthquakes, disaster after disaster. When my kids were little, we had to evacuate from flooding. In Lake County, fires are a very real consideration, requiring 2 evacuations from our residence in 5 years.

Always have a back up plan!

It’s a crowded state, and, to have a family, you need preparation.

From a landlord’s point of view, you want your property to last, to be, at least, break-even financially, and to live to earn another day. Commercial property is a business!

If you don’t invest, you will never have anything. Financial success depends upon diverse investment over time! Security results from sustained acts of will, and there is no substitute for good planning.

If you want charity, go to Salvation Army. If you need a place to live, you will need to fit your landlord’s needs, and not the other way around.

You said, “It’s a crowded state, and, to have a family, you need preparation.” In the previous comment, you said, “When you have a large family, you should start off with income, and buy your own real estate. ”

Which implies this family was irresponsible by not being better prepared…You suggest that everyone should own two homes to be prepared. You say, “Even if I was burned out, I own other property where I could go.”

I’m not quite sure how one prepares for the most catastrophic fire in modern California history. And at the very least, I’m pretty sure that most people will not match your suggested two homes.

Your level of required preparation before a family would have one good side effect…the population levels across the world would plummet possibly to levels much lower than any since the Black Plague decimated Europe.

I don’t want to try to make a comparison between the Black Plague and a Landlord /Tenant dispute. This is mostly hyperbole and not really relevant!

These folks, however prepared, are trying to get something which is controlled by someone else. In my world, I make the rules, no matter how much empathy or altruism I contain!

It is illegal to discriminate against families with children, but I can discriminate against pets, with impunity. It is also illegal to harass your employees, discriminate against transsexuals and older employees etc, and said discrimination is practiced with nearly no blow-back, legal or otherwise,
every minute of every day!

Everyone faces some challenges!

Planning ahead has no substitute. Complaining about potential landlords in public, posting your photos, going for sympathy and receiving charity by design, is a process I have never used! Never lived in a FEMA trailer, either!

It’s a big disaster, but, 40,000 people is a VERY small percentage of the state’s population!

Everyone has a point of view, and mine is that an ounce of being prepared is worth a hundred pounds of whining on the internet.

These folks are now famous, and, it is possible they will receive what they need from concerned and charitable persons or organizations. Or, they can drive down to Rio Dell and look at some housing, as I suggested.

Alternatives exist. I myself came to Humboldt to continue my career following the recession/depression, found no housing available, and bought a home. I have shown up in communities and stayed in a motel for weeks until I found a place to stay. The recession was a disaster that displaced MILLIONS.

I never once showed up in a new town with 3 big dogs, and it seems unrealistic to think that you will easily find housing with several large pets and ground-floor employment.

Perhaps if you let empathy and altruism guide your decision and not a credit worthiness of someone whose personal and business life went up in smoke from causes not of their own…..

You landlords are not hardwired to rely on just numbers. Use your brains and discretion when making decisions. The problem here isn’t that the laws in Paradise are any different than in Humboldt, it’s unscrupulous landlords cashing in or otherwise finding excuses and reasons to discriminate. Don’t make them quote you on landlord-tenant laws because social media dumpster fires are a bitch to deal with.

A Constitutional Sheriff, or any public servant, takes an Oath to the land jurisdiction – the Supreme law of the land.

“All codes, rules and regulations are applicable to the government authorities only, not human/creators in accordance with God’s laws. All codes, rules and regulations are unconstitutional and lacking in due process .”
Rodrigues v. United States Dept. of Labor 769F 2d1344 (9th Circuit 08/26/1985).

An entire 132-minute documentary will premiere on the Home Video Network on Friday, 30 November 2018 from 8PM – 3AM Eastern time (5PM – 12 Midnight Pacific).
Here are the salient links:
ACCESS: To watch the Premiere go to http://www.Good-Guys.us/premiere

Basically, the Sheriff is elected directly by the people, not the govt(s). He answers to the Constitution. They’re all supposed to be Constitutional Sheriff’s. That’s why we elected them.
Unfortunately, many had no idea and instead fell into the ‘follow the money’ mentality and gave the people’s constitutional security away for the money.
This is why we now have combined local, state, and federal offices. None of them are abiding by their oath to office to secure, protect and defend the Constitution.
Instead of securing the individual’s rights to not be held at gunpoint for not greasing the palms of those unconstitutional ‘agencies’, they are leading the charge against the individuals. They like their benefits, bonuses, wages more than their oath.
They fell into the trap of ‘needing’ more money, because they allowed the crooks in office to rob the individuals through the deceptive and unconstitutional ballots that the crooks insisted was a ‘democracy’.
We are not a democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic. We are supposed to use the democratic ballot process to vote ONLY on Constitutional issues. Individual rights are never to be on ballot. Politicians are supposed to promote their ideals, not legislate them. The indoctrinating in our schools, media, political fields, stacked the decks against the individual. That part is the easiest part to identify. Everything is now ‘collective’ and ‘globalist’. The Individual is against the ‘collective’ and the ‘globalist’ because the Individual understands that giving in to those ‘ideals’ leads to starvation and genocides. Unfortunately, many Sheriff’s fell for the ‘collective’ indoctrination and peer pressure. Fortunately, MANY HAVEN’T. Those who haven’t are bullied, smeared, and mistreated horribly by the ‘collective’. Even so, they are taking a strong stand, because they ‘know’ what lays ahead if they don’t.

I intended to write a one liner, but it’s impossible to stop the flow. The flow is ultra important to understand so that we (every individual) can return to a Constitutional life that’s free from any dictatorships.

Yes, the Fair Housing Act does prohibit that. Landlords are (or should be) very clear about the laws on discrimination. Landlords also understand that there are many reasons to refuse to rent to an applicant, notwithstanding the presence or absence of children. For instance, pets are not a protected class under Federal Housing Laws and a landlord can refuse to rent to people who intend to house pets. Other criteria are: income, credit history, local personal references, rental history and references, history of eviction/unlawful detainer. Landlords are looking to rent their property–not the opposite! Depending on experiences and biases created, Landlord can make allowances for “shaky” tenants but that is always a risk due to the difficulty of removing a tenant who creates a nuisance to a neighborhood, damages Landlord’s property, fails to pay rent, houses “guests” …and I could go on but won’t. Suffice it to say that renting is a business and the choice of a tenant is part science and part an art and is the most important decision a Landlord can make. If Landlords cannot be successful, there can be NO rental property because the Landlord will either refuse to rent or sell the property. There will be nowhere for people who cannot afford to purchase a home to live.

Tenants who are “shaky” rental applicants have choices. While they cannot get rid of the children, they can re-house the pets and put down a bigger security deposit. The term of the lease can be short, subject to short-term renewals. Tenants can offer to pay MORE than the requested amount. Tenants can find co-signors. They can pledge collateral. The remedies are only limited by imagination. Unfortunately, this family tics ALL the boxes against a rental.

On the subject of preparedness, I think it is unrealistic to expect people in low socioeconomic circumstances to be ready to recover for the kind of unexpected catastrophe in Paradise. That is why I pay taxes-to fund social programs that can help people recover from horrific events such as this!